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Newspaper maker

28 August 2008

By Helen Watts — Editor, Literacy Time PLUS

Technical Development by Cambridge English Online Ltd

This exciting On-screen resource enables children to design and create their own newspaper front page. They are invited to write up three stories from a set of reporters’ notes and quotes, choosing which story to lead with for their particular paper. They will also be asked to think up headlines, choose a photo, add a caption and byline.

Before reading

Look at the instructions and identify the task.
Discuss the newspaper types, looking at their names and their potential readership before choosing your preferred type.
Explore the style, language choices and photographs which might be used, according to the different type of newspaper.
Decide how decisions will be made in each group – will there be an Editor or a voting system?
Discuss ground rules for agreeing on decisions. What happens if others do not agree?

Preparation

Before using the resource show a variety of newspapers to the children and discuss the differences between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. Discuss the choices they could make in their own stories to alter the effect of their newspaper piece.

Previous learning

Children should be able to: summarise and shape material to write convincing non-narratives; choose/combine words and images; use WP packages.

During reading

Read through the three story quotes and notes. Decide, in groups, which story would be the best ‘lead’ or ‘headline’ story for the chosen newspaper. Discuss topicality and which issues would attract children.
In each story decide who the main characters are – eg, in the healthy dinner story the tokens are for parents.
Using skimming and scanning skills, answer key questions such as when and what happened.
Decide which facts are important and how these can be reported accurately, taking into account the different viewpoints.
Discuss the style of the story and how sentences need to convey the facts effectively and to fit the space available.

Writing activity

Choose an appropriate headline, or create one to fit the story.
Write the chosen articles in groups, sequencing the facts and developing the notes into sentences. Experiment with the organisation of paragraphs to achieve different effects.
Incorporate relevant quotes supporting the focus of the article, and include an appropriate photo and caption.
Then select the two shorter news stories, picking out key facts from the reporters’ notes. Choose words carefully, select shorter quotes and consider using reported speech in order to make the best use of the space available.
Proof-read and edit work to check punctuation, style and clarity of information. Does the article appeal to the correct audience?
Using the activity sheet below, write notes for a topical school newspaper article, choosing a headline, captions, and style to appeal to the audience. Use an ICT program to add relevant photographs and captions.

Key learning outcomes:

To understand the process of decision-making;
To adapt non-narrative forms to write factual texts;
To establish balance and maintain viewpoint;
To use reported speech and selection of detail;
To proof-read, edit and improve writing.

Plenary

Explore how the notes for the school newspaper article are written up as complete sentences. Model an example for the class to see, using key words and symbols.
Ask groups to present why they chose a particular story from the resource. Highlight why a chosen style, headline, slant, quote, or caption was selected to appeal to their readership.
Review how direct speech from interviews and quotations can be transformed into reported speech.

Reviews

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Jenny on 15 May 2012

Atlanta

End of the Year Trip The end of the year trip to Atlanta turned out wonderful. Thanks to Mr.Cuttler we saw a part of Atlanta that was not on schedule the getto. The Auquarium was amazing and the world of coke was wonderful exept for beverly yuk!
the daily evans on 15 May 2012

frogs hop on !!!!

Killer Frogs hop on to Sheffield

Killer Frogs invade Sheffield many affected!!!!

There has been a sudden outbreak of frogs throughout Sheffield they have been causing havoc all over the city scientists expect the outbreak has come over from a different region heres a victim of the occurrence Steve from Sheffield city centre age 29 “ there I was sitting there enjoying my special k when a frog came and sat in my cereal I panicked and ran upstairs an locked the door I was petrified I had to inform the police” the police have been on patrol for the mischievous frogs . While this mayhem has been on more than a 100 missing items have been reported another victim from The outbreak susan aged 34 “ I had just got out of the shower when frogs was coming From all directions so I just decided to faint” people are fleeing the city wanting to No how long this disaster will last go on this has been reported by conai evans For the daily evans
precious obaji on 8 May 2012

war of 1812

THE americans at the war of 1812,
Edward De Mattia on 14 March 2012

Mission Australia-Reaching Out

Mission Australia is an organisation urgently trying to eliminate poverty from Australia and other nations. Advertisements that shock the community with true statistics that don’t seem real, such as 20% of Australia do not have a secure home to live in. These statistics that reach out to the public usually enforce actions such as donations. We wake up in our big, modern homes and hop out of a double bed in our own room and walk to the huge kitchen to face the first challenge of the day, having to choose what to eat for breakfast, because there is such a wide variety of choices. After breakfast we dress in clean, smart uniform for our private school. We receive top class education, opportunities to excel in sport, academic pursuits and learning morals of a man. We are so accustomed to this easy lifestyle full of friends, relaxation and opportunities that we never take the time to stop and think about those people who don’t have a beautiful home, who don’t go to private schools and receive first class education, those who aren’t expecting 3 meals a day and those who don’t have pleasant families where parents get along well. This is what Mission Australia does, they appeal to the public and aim for them to understand the position that fellow Australians are in.
The Roman Post on 3 February 2012

Wedding guest turns water into

On Tuesday, a woman named Mary was in Cana to attend a wedding. A large number of guests, including her son, a man named Jesus, also attended the wedding. Guests at the wedding were reportedly having a good time until the host ran out of wine. At that point, it seemed that the happy celebration might turn into a disaster. Some of the wedding guests thought that perhaps Jesus might have a solution to the problem, so they reported to him that they were out of wine. When told about the problem, Jesus at first seemed unwilling to do anything, but after some encouragement from his mother, he finally agreed to help. Eyewitnesses at the wedding reported that Jesus noticed several large water jars nearby and instructed some servants to fill them with water. After the jars had been filled with water, he told them to dip some of the water out of the jars and take it to the man who was in charge of serving the wine. When the wine steward tasted the water, he discovered that the water had been turned into wine. Wedding guests were amazed at the turn of events and said that the wine was the best that they had ever tasted. One lady even said to Jesus, “WOW!!! This is the best wine I’ve ever tasted!” As a result of this miraculous event, many people are following Jesus everywhere he goes, and many believe that he might even be the long-awaited Messiah.
Abby on 27 January 2012

Sailor Moon

It is the bestest book in da world.
tyler on 21 October 2011

the satndard

once apon atime in a deep world there was a goat named bruse
kobe ferris on 21 October 2011

Earth Quakes

An earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by the sudden breaking and movement of large sections (tectonic plates) of the earth’s rocky outermost crust. The edges of the tectonic plates are marked by faults (or fractures). Most earthquakes occur along the fault lines when the plates slide past each other or collide against each other.

The shifting masses send out shock waves that may be powerful enough to

alter the surface of the Earth, thrusting up cliffs and opening great cracks in the ground and

cause great damage … collapse of buildings and other man-made structures, broken power and gas lines (and the consequent fire), landslides, snow avalanches, tsunamis (giant sea waves) and volcanic eruptions.

madison hefner on 12 October 2011

Zero to Hero

Pony boy curitis went to veitnam and came back a hero. Pony was serving his country. He then relized that somthing was wrong.He hurried over to the sene and helped a handful of people out of the burning building.

Pony had a rough childhood. his parents had died when he was younger. so his two brothers had to raise him. Ponys brother Darry was always hard on on him.He wanted him to have a better life then he already had.

Pony was an a plus student but he belonged to a gang.He was a greacer .His past was dark and sad. Like most greacers Pony would fight and particeipate in rumbles.

But onr day  pony realized that fighting doesnt get you any where just in trouble. So he dicided to go to. war .His brothers were ueasey about Ponys decision. but he was old enough to make his own choice.

Pony is proud of what he did   for those people.He now is a Purple   Heart recipient  and a brave person .Pony is now 26 and has a house of his own and couldnt be happier.

Ruby Glynne on 27 September 2011

CONTACT MADE WITH HUMANS!

On the 21st of September 2011, us Aliens made contact with Humans- from earth! We landed in what they call Heathrow Airport, to find hundreds of Humans staring at us worriedly! About a day later, we set out on a course to find out as much as we could about the planet Earth.

FinBob Aleino (famous Alien scientist) set off, straight to a science laboratory- where he talked to Human scientists about the human body and plant structures. One scientist pointed out how humans and plants have billions of cells inside them, each one made up of tiny little particles- so small that you would need a super strong microscope to see them.

Each Human cell has a nucleus-which controls the activities of the cell (the biggest scrunched up bit of paper), chytoplasm-which is where all the activity of the cell happens (the yellow piece of paper) and a cell membrane-which controls what goes on in and outside of the cell (the blue bit of paper round the outside).

Each Plant cell has a chloroplast-which contains green chlorophyll, needed for photosynthesis, a cell wall-which provides rigid support for the cell and a vacuole-which stores food and helps keep the cell firm.

The Humans donated us a model of a human cell for us to examine. ‘We can’t wait to get back!’ was the end of a telephone call that FinBob sent yesterday. It is a fantastic new discovery and we hope to go back to earth for other trips soon.
The Fisher Times on 5 July 2011

Kids Working in cotton mills..

The local cotton mills have been employing young children from as young as 6 to clean the machines, while the machines are still running. there has been alot of debating about whether this is a good thing or not. one parent told us: ” i think this is brilliant!! it keeps the kids out of the way and i dont have to worry about feeding them, they get paid too. aswell as all this they also learn discipline.The only thing i find a problem is that my son came back with cuts on his back, he said he had been whipped for being late for work. according to this parent the cotton mills employing kids is a great thing, thats not the case for all the parents though: “this is terrible, my daughter has been whipped all over all because she turned up late and got the cotton tangled. i love having my girls around, they help me with my work. when they are at work i’m on my own and they have no choice but to go to work. Alot of parents have said that this is a very bad thing to do to young children who have a whole life ahead of them, but sadly they have to spend alot of their childhood cleaning dangerous, running cotton machines. The mill owner ‘steve dykes’ has said ” i love the kids working for me, they are easy to train and discipline and don’t fight back when i punish them. They have little nimble fingers that can fit into all the small holes to untangle cotton, though sadly some have lost fingers. we have talked enough about the parents veiws, now we talk ot the kids: Gemma Green says: “i really don’t enjoy working at the mill, i have cut myself so many times and nobody wants to help. I feel useless when i’m in the mill, nothing but a working machine. the machines really hurt you if you catch your finger in it, my poor friend even lost her finger!!” according to this girl the cotton mill child workers are bullied and nothing but a piece of dirt that nobody cares about. we don’t know what to do about this issue, further information will be in next weeks paper.